A Guide to Choosing a Multilingual WordPress Theme

A very important decision before starting a multilingual WordPress site is choosing the right multilingual theme. In this article I make an analysis of the main multilingual WordPress themes and which have already been translated into other languages using collaborative translation platforms such as GlotPress, Transifex or Webtranslateit.

Introduction

Internationalization (i18n) is the process of creating themes that are easily translatable and RTL compatible (support languages right-to-left). Developers do this by marking text strings in a way that makes them easy to extract later on (using POT, PO and MO files) and creating an RTL stylesheet for RTL support.

The current trend is that all themes end up being multilingual, however currently there are many themes that are not multilingual.

For this reason the first thing you need to do when making a multilingual WordPress website is selecting a multilingual ready theme.

Multilingual ready themes can be divided into 3 groups:

Themes that only come with a .pot file (and sometimes with an English version of .mo and .po files). These files can be used to translate the theme into other languages, but these themes don’t provide translations to other languages.

Themes that also come with translations into different languages made by professional translators, volunteers, theme users or developers using collaborative translation platforms such as GlotPress, Transifex or Webtranslateit.

You only will need a translation plugin to translate contents (WPML or Multilingual Press).

Themes translated into many languages (by professional translators) and using an own integrated multilingual system.

No need to translate the theme nor install a third party plugin such as WPML.

Matt Mullenweg announced in a recent post (October 27, 2014):

Internationalization will be a big focus of the coming year, including fully-localized plugin and theme directories on language sites

1. Free multilingual themes: WordPress.org

Currently, you can find 408 free translation ready themes in WordPress.org and with RTL language support. Just browse and choose the one that best suits your needs. You can find these themes in this link:

Also, most popular free themes have been translated into other languages using collaborative translation platforms (GlotPress, Transifex, Webtransleit, etc).

Example: Responsive is a translation ready theme, with RTL language support, translated into 45 languages and WPML compatible. Translations are made by volunteers using Webtranslateit. You can check out the translations here:

2. Premium multilingual themes

Free themes are great for those starting out on a budget. The problem with them is, a lot are not updated regularly, there is no support for most of them, many are abandoned completely, and the quality of the coding or translations is not always ideal.

Let’s review premium multilingual ready themes.

2.1. «Multilingual ready» themes – Not translated into other languages

Most of premium themes only come with a .pot file, which can be used to translate the theme into other languages, but these themes don’t provide translations to other languages.

B) Woothemes

All Woothemes support localization and include a language file (.po or .pot) which contains all the English texts. You can find this language file inside the theme folder in theme-name/lang/. More info:

2.2. «Multilingual ready» themes – Translated into other languages

There are multilingual themes that also come with translations into different languages made by professional translators, volunteers, theme users or developers using collaborative translation platforms such as GlotPress, Transifex or Webtranslateit.

This way you save money and time because you don’t need to translate the theme, but you will need a translation plugin to translate contents such as WPML or Multilingual Press.

Genesis is, in my opinion, the most recommended framework to make a multilingual WordPress site: translated into over 30 languages, unlimited updates, support and sites (and all for a one-time payment of $59.95).

Compatible with WPML and WordPress Multisite (I’ve tested with Multilingual Press and Multisite Language Switcher and works fine)

If you want to customize Genesis Framework, you’ll have to buy a child theme (about $40). Childs themes from StudioPress (the company behind Genesis Framework) are multilingual ready but child themes from other companies can be multilingual ready or not. For example, Genesis themes from Web Savvy Marketing are multilingual ready.

Elegant Themes is one of the best premium theme frameworks. For $69 a year, you get access to 87 quality themes, a small library of useful plugins and a support forum where you can expect fast and helpful responses.

Unlike Genesis Framework, you don’t get access to the framework as such – you get access to the themes, all of which are built on top of the same framework.

All themes by Elegant Themes have been localized for easy translation. Included with each theme are .MO and .PO files that can be used to translate the theme. They have also begun adding some translations to the themes for certain languages. Divi theme is translated into 32 languages and the rest of themes come pre-translated to Russian and German.

Features:

Translation ready

Divi theme is 100% translated (back and front-end) into 32 languages and comes with RTL support. You don’t need to use Poedit with Divi.

All AitThemes are multilingual right out of the box. Themes come with built-in multilingual support, no third party plugin is required. You can simply select your language and start building your WordPress website.

All parts of the theme, back-end and front-end are already translated to over 20 languages. You can use the themes in your own native language or create a WordPress website in several languages. No WPML or third party plugin is required. Themes come with AIT Languages plugin to create easily a multilingual website

You have 14 multilingual themes to choose from (check out themes). You can purchase single WordPress theme ($ 55) or access to all WordPress AitThemes ($ 165), but you don’t need to spend money with a thrid party translation plugin.

It’s an excellent option to create a multilanguage WordPress site without using third party plugins.

3. Conclusions

As you can see, there are many multilingual themes to have your WordPress site in different languages. I’ve tested many multilingual WordPress themes. Based on that experience these are my conclusions:

«Multilingual ready» themes not translated into other languages. If you choose a theme not translated into other languages you’ll have to spend your time and money with translations.

«Multilingual ready» themes translated into other languages. In my opinion, the best choice.

Themes such as Genesis (translated into over 30 languages), Divi -ElegantThemes- (32 languages) or PageLines (8 languages) are great for multilingual projects.

About the Author

Irena is the creator of the blog WPLANG (WordPress Multilingual) and a professional specialized in website localization. Irena now helps others to create a WordPress website in one language or create a multilingual WordPress website.

Comments

Great review and article. So much to do and tired of themes i18n ready that really aren’t or with translations made wit Google translate that I decided with Devin Price to create our own themes company based in France and producing all our themes – 4 so far 100% translated in French – Hexagone

Hi Fx Bénard. Thank you very much. I agree with you about translations quality. It’s always nice to see new projects that are not exclusively in English. Themes look great. I add them to my article on WordPress 100% in French

Hello,
I have a Book to travel theme that i already purchased it along time ago, i edited the default.po and i got two files ar_EG.po and ar_EG.mo and i placed them to the language folder of the them, and i added define(‘WPLANG’, ‘ar_EG’); to the wp-config.php and i changed the wordpress general setting to ar_EG but nothing works, please help assp.
Thank you

Note that some articles of this blog contains affiliate links, so I make a few bucks if you use them. This won't cost you anything but helps me to keep the lights on (so to speak). Thank you very much. Irena